The Mines of Gloomingdeep

[Centinull]

For levels 1-15 I've found the tutorial zone to be fantastic. Decent loot (true newbie myself so no twinking), really good plat (I got roughly 71 plat there, sell the 'a staff' that spiritweavers and plaugebears carry for 3p and change and also sell the crude defiant stuff you can't wear for about 1p 5g). The quests give good exp and I've done everything solo, plus the quests give money from 1-5 plat (the 4+ quests). Easy access to PoK through Arias, good for buffs and you can buy your level 12 spells here (not in the mine). I'm just a casual player (two hours max per session) and I am now level 13. I will finish up level 15 here (I've read conflicting stuff about getting booted at level ten, I didn't but just to be safe have the soulbinder bind you and you can always just gate back in till 15). Also, I found it fun to solo Kreshin (spelling?) at level 12, he's like a mini-boss and he looks cool (he dropped Spirit Weaver's Nexus for me too, awesome newbie item). That's my two copper pieces, good luck and good hunting!
Centinull, 13 Froglok Necro

[Nirruden]

Worth noting that changes to this zone have made the tutorial even more useful in this regard for non-twinks.

Things to watch for:
Gloomingdeep Silk: Turn into the Vah Shir (Vahlara?) for free burlap armor pieces. Sell the duplicates.
Other silk: Make into bandages, sell or use the bandages. Yield of 5 makes this more profitable than it might at first appear.
Bronze/Iron bars: Give to Absor for weapon upgrades. Upgrade path in tutorial is Newbie Weapon < Polished Weapon < Bronze Weapon < Iron Weapon < Gloomsteel Weapon
Ore (Iron/Tin/Silvril/Other): Make into throwing knives, sell or use these for free throwing skillups.
Hides: Make these into six-slot bags. Don't carry them (7.5lb weight!) just put them into your bank to add storage space until you can afford (and need) to upgrade later. Free tailoring skillups!

It's easy to get ~100pp from selling loot here, along with Defiant drops, silk/or for bandages/knives to use/sell, and a starter set of Gloom* armor to get you started. At level 10/11 you can solo the Overlord or pit fiend, which is a good introduction to being a necromancer. I typically hang out here until I can get a gloomsteel dagger to start life out - at low levels when you're still stabbing things occasionally, this weapon will stick with you for a while. Other nice things include a basic mana preservation item (random drop from named mobs).

After that, I'd tell newbies to head for Crescent Reach, since many of the easy questable items are upgrades for anything you haven't slotted with defiant gear already. In particular, the face item (poison resist clicky) and several of the level 1-5 quests reward the player with items that are solid starter gear.